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Okay, so I finished my Hammock stand today about 2:00pm EST and took it to the back yard to set up. I had to take the ridge pole back inside and drill it to accept a bolt through each end so my whoopies would have something to hold onto. I dedcided to suspend my ridge pole for backyard use with chain. I load tested the whole thing several times by gently sitting in my hammock and then rechecking all my stress points. I had a friend come over to take pics as I wanted to see what the ridge pole was doing when fully loaded. I know I look like all torso and little tiny legs but it's just the angle of the camera. I'm 6'4" and about 275lbs.
As you can see from the pics the ridge pole is flexing upwards. Is this OK or am I looking at an eventual failure at the join? How could/should this be alieviated? Any comments would be helpful!

The ridge pole is literally just resting on the chain. I am planning on doing a continuous loop and prussiking(?) it onto the ridge pole (when I break down and buy some Amsteel lol). Also I didn't even bother to cut down my 2" X 3" studs. They are full height at 8'.

I layed in the Hammock after dark tonight for about an hour and a half... I had to fight to keep from nodding off it was so peaceful.

Okay, so I finished my Hammock stand today about 2:00pm EST and took it to the back yard to set up. I had to take the ridge pole back inside and drill it to accept a bolt through each end so my whoopies would have something to hold onto. I dedcided to suspend my ridge pole for backyard use with chain. I load tested the whole thing several times by gently sitting in my hammock and then rechecking all my stress points. I had a friend come over to take pics as I wanted to see what the ridge pole was doing when fully loaded. I know I look like all torso and little tiny legs but it's just the angle of the camera. I'm 6'4" and about 275lbs.
As you can see from the pics the ridge pole is flexing upwards. Is this OK or am I looking at an eventual failure at the join? How could/should this be alieviated? Any comments would be helpful!

The ridge pole is literally just resting on the chain. I am planning on doing a continuous loop and prussiking(?) it onto the ridge pole (when I break down and buy some Amsteel lol). Also I didn't even bother to cut down my 2" X 3" studs. They are full height at 8'.

The upward flex is simply a matter of the distance you have between the hang points from the tripods to ends of the ridge pole. If you can find a way to safely move your chains/hangers closer to the ends of your ridge pole, that deflection will go away.

Thanks Randy! Yeah... I think I was playing it as safe as I could by leaving about 5" - 6" go past the chain. I think I'll feel a lot better about moving the hang point when I prussik the Amsteel on the ridge pole. Plus I think I'm going to shorten the length of the hang chain/Amsteel and maybe take a little off the bottom of the studs. Thanks for your advice! Now comes the inevitable experimenting - tweaking. FUN!

AT4ever, welcome to the TurtleDog club. My toprail also flexs upwards but slightly less than yours. I don't believe it will fail on you, the only difference that I can see between ours is that your suspension, TR to shackle, is a little longer than mine. Looking at the pics I would suggest sliding the chains toward the ends of the toprail. This may place the TR into more of an end to end compression. Not an engineer and really don't know what I'm talking about but... no offense but you're a bit more of a man than I am. Possibly the vertical loading is more than the compressive loading? I use the end cap eyes and my suspension is right up against the caps. Good looking stand but for test purposes you may want to move it from over the concrete paves to the grass. Just saying

Most of us end up poorer here but richer for being here. Olddog, Fulltime hammocker, 365 nights a year.

AT4ever, welcome to the TurtleDog club. My toprail also flexs upwards but slightly less than yours. I don't believe it will fail on you, the only difference that I can see between ours is that your suspension, TR to shackle, is a little longer than mine. Looking at the pics I would suggest sliding the chains toward the ends of the toprail. This may place the TR into more of an end to end compression. Not an engineer and really don't know what I'm talking about but... no offense but you're a bit more of a man than I am. Possibly the vertical loading is more than the compressive loading? I use the end cap eyes and my suspension is right up against the caps. Good looking stand but for test purposes you may want to move it from over the concrete paves to the grass. Just saying

Thanks OldDog, that's a confirmation and I'm going to tweak that tomorrow! Yup, I'm a big Dude... that's what actually kept me from getting into Hammocking at first. I thought I was over the limit, but I've noticed a lot of guys my weight class or plus hanging with no problems, so... no offense taken. I will take your advice and move to the softer part of the yard!